1919 Reds Pennant

[william_9]

I don't know enough about the subject matter to feel strongly one way or the other, but here are a couple of thoughts.....

For it being genuine folk art - it looks old and it's crude. It's very likely not a commercial product. Based on other known examples, the artist clearly had an interest in the subject and we can now see that there are other pieces to the puzzle. I'm wondering if all of these pieces may have once been sewn together to form something larger like a blanket or quilt? The technique looks naive and child like, as if it was made from scrap material for personal enjoyment. Also, the stitch style would suggest that it was tacked down to temporarily hold it's shape before a final sew on a machine. That's significant if were intended to be part of a larger piece.

For it being fake - in two words, bleed through. The dirty surface is somewhat expected but it looks overly dirty. The fact that ink bleeds through to the back suggests to me that it has taken a bath at some point, and not to get cleaned. Dirty + water damage always makes me suspect that something is up.

A simple test that may tell you something, or nothing, is to slightly trim some of the fray from the canvas and the felt and the thread. If it burns clean, then it's likely all natural fiber, and thus, likely old. If it burns and melts, it's newer. The odds of it containing synthetic fibers in the 1920's, I would think, be slim to none. The canvas and thread would be cotton and the felt would be wool. Of course, it could be made in the 1990's from salvaged materials from the 1920's. Who's to say for sure?